Thursday, December 21, 2017

From the Ground Up

At 3:30 pm on April 26, 1900 George E. Tufts, the son of the Conway library’s general contractor, removed the first shovelful of earth “at a point near the centre of the front wall of the building (site)...” officially starting the physical construction of the library.

Ironically a good place to start to learn about the history of the groundwork for the construction of the Conway Public is not outside, where it is currently pretty snowy, but rather in the library’s red reading room or “founder’s room.”

On the left, you can find a framed list of the original donors of the library site and park land. Here is a more detailed photo. Click on the image to enlarge it.

On the north wall are two framed photographic ensembles with captions explaining the key role people played in the original building of the library.

In the nearby periodical room can be found a bronze plaque explaining that the library was built as a memorial to Thomas Jenks (more on this later).

To learn more about the site of the library and it's original landscaping visit the Henney History Room in the library's lower level where you can find a blueprint detailing the landscape plans.

On April 11, 2003 there was another "groundbreaking celebration" for a library expansion.

Part of this project involved a "tree moving" machine that wrapped itself around a tree, dug down, scooped it up and drove it away.